Could Netflix’s The Witcher become the first successful live action video-game-to-TV adaptation?

When Netflix announced that they would be taking on The Witcher as a TV series, fan excitement was overwhelming. Since then, Henry Cavill has been confirmed as playing the big man Geralt himself, with a character reveal recently shown off on Twitter.

Honestly, I think he looks great – definitely fits the part of a younger Geralt; I’m just looking forward to seeing him armour-clad with two swords on his back. The look is very reserved and isn’t over the top; a beard might have been too much for the costume to look right. I’m also not a big fan of the DC movies, but I think Henry Cavill might do a good job of old mate Geralt; he can certainly act without complex emotions going on.

Live-action TV shows and movies typically don’t do all too well quality wise. The recent Tomb Raiderand Warcraftmovies both rated rather poorly, despite both being rather fun movies, especially for fans of their affiliate games.

Netflix is unique in that they’ve been able to grab things quite niche and recreate them as almost entirely new content – for that, I’ve got faith in their ability to make this Witcher series good.

Perhaps Netflix’s Castlevania is a testament to my excitement for their spin on The Witcher – despite my own love of Wild Hunt.

If you haven’t seen Castlevania yet, but you’re a fan of anything anime, gorey, adult themed, unholy and medieval, you need to see it. A second season went up on Netflix at the end of last month, and it is incredibly well made.

Castlevania is a spin on the classic Konami series of the same name, and features characters, themes and archs from the original games.

It’s done incredibly well – it stands up as its own creative spin on the franchise, has a well thought-out plot and is well-animated – well done to the team for creating such a masterpiece of a show.

To my memory, it’s the most I’ve enjoyed a TV show or movie based off of a Video Game. Perhaps I enjoyed it so because it doesn’t ride off of direct references to the games, and instead takes what the games have to offer, and transforms them into something unique. The show stands by itself, whereas the aforementioned titles would hardly do as well without original texts to ride off of.

Netflix has made itself known by being able to grab old stuff, and completely reboot them, with new creative spins and twists for viewers to sink their teeth into.

Another prominant example is The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, a reboot of Sabrina the Teenaged Witch, with a horror tone instead of a sitcom tone.

It’s a unique take on such a show, but a welcome one. The show has its own charisma, and definitely flows in the same direction as its counterpart of the same universe, Riverdale, a reboot of the Archie comics series, another example of Netflix’ niche to take a core idea and transform it into something fresh.

So, I guess I’m wildly optimistic about their ability to transform The Witcher into a good video game TV show. But considering Netflix’ track record, we shouldn’t roll our eyes at more live-action game-related content. Keep in your mind; The Witcher games themselves were inspired by books; so even they had a lot to work off.

I’m so looking forward to Netflix’s adaption – they’ve had such a good run with their shows, and their talent isn’t likely to run dry yet.